This quote is taken from the brochure for the Exposition des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris in 1925. After the First World War, the avant-garde Art Nouveau jeweller René Lalique (1860-1945) became an expert in decorative glass, owning his own glassworks. Throughout his life, this brilliant artist gave his letters of nobility to the mixture of genres and materials. Thanks to him, French jewellery was opened up to materials other than precious stones and metals. Lalique also brought a whole new bestiary (insects, mammals, birds) into the discipline.